Activists rip Mamdani for boosting NYPD headcount, breaking police crackdown campaign pledge
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Prime Day ends tonight! Score these last-minute deals MetroActivists rip Mamdani for boosting NYPD headcount, breaking police crackdown campaign pledge
By Matthew Fischetti Published June 25, 2026, 7:32 p.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on GoogleActivists slammed former “defund the police” advocate Mayor Zohran Mamdani Thursday for swelling the ranks of New York’s Finest in an about-face from his campaign pledge to reshape the NYPD.
Around 50 elected officials and advocates, including from the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter, gathered around City Hall, calling out the mayor for proposing increasing the police department’s headcount by 580 officers.
“The reason I am here is to help the mayor keep the commitment that were made,” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a Mamdani ally, said.
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Hizzoner, on the campaign trail last year, had promised to freeze the NYPD’s staffing at 35,000. But his executive budget proposal would boost the ranks from the current 33,861 to 35,370 in the 2027 fiscal year.
Samy Feliz, whose older brother Allan Feliz was fatally shot by NYPD Lt. Jonathan Rivera during a 2019 traffic stop, also ripped Mamdani, who had called for the cop to be fired.
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“You even stood with my family and called Jonathan Rivera a murderer and he has yet to be fired. Why haven’t you delivered on any of it?” Feliz said. “We’re tired of waiting for unfulfilled promises.”
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch determined in a nine-page ruling that Rivera was justified because he was protecting the life of a fellow cop during the incident.
Mamdani, during the campaign, also pledged the NYPD would stop sending cops to mental health-related 911 calls, proposing launching an entirely new, $1.1 billion Department of Community Safety that would dispatch outreach workers and counselors instead.
Instead, he has launched a watered down roughly $260 million Mayor’s Office of Community Safety.
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Mamdani had also vowed to disband the NYPD’s elite Strategic Response Group, scrap the department’s gang database and end homeless encampment sweeps — though has yet to make good.
The group of advocates and officials noted that the mayor was opting to spend scratch on hiring cops instead of housing or education — as the June 30 deadline for the City Council to approve the budget looms.
Bronx Councilwoman Pierina Sanchez, a member of the legislative body’s Progressive Caucus, said she would vote against the budget if Mamdani’s promise to expand housing voucher programs like CityFHEPS isn’t fulfilled.
“That is what my kids need. That is what I need. That is what our people need. So please, as an ally, I will do the right thing to make true on your camping promises,” she said.
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A separate group of landlords, homeowners and NYCHA residents formed the “New York Neighborhoods Coalition” to demand Mamdani expand the program.
“This budget of broken promises is a slap in the face to all New Yorkers who are struggling to stay in their home and live in dignity,” said coalition member Pastor Richard E. Griffiths, of the Bronx Bethany Church of the Nazarene.
The mayor said he was taking the criticism into consideration during final budget negotiations.
“I appreciate the fact that their concern comes from a desire for the city to be the best that it can be, the safest that it could be,” he told News12. “And as the mayor, you appreciate and take into consideration everyone’s views and opinions on these things.”
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Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
